Magneto-optical properties of a new group-IV ferromagnetic semiconductor Ge1-xFex grown by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy

A new group-IV ferromagnetic semiconductor, Ge1-xFex, was successfully grown by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (LT-MBE) without precipitation of ferromagnetic Ge-Fe intermetallic compounds. The ferromagnetism of Ge1-xFex films was investigated by magnetic circular dichroism (MCD). In particular, the influence of the Fe content (FFe/FGe =1 - 10%) and growth temperature (100, 200OC) on the ferromagnetism was carefully studied. The MCD measurements revealed that the band structure of the Ge1-xFex films was identical with that of bulk Ge, and that the large spin splitting of the band structure was induced by the incorporation of Fe atoms into the Ge matrix, indicating the existence of s,p-d exchange interactions. The Ge1-xFex films showed ferromagnetic behavior and the ferromagnetic transition temperature linearly increased with increasing the Fe composition. These results indicate that the epitaxially grown Ge1-xFex is an intrinsic ferromagnetic semiconductor.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. to appear in J. Appl. Phy

Holographic Techni-dilaton

Techni-dilaton, a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson of scale symmetry, was predicted long ago in the Scale-invariant/Walking/Conformal Technicolor (SWC-TC) as a remnant of the (approximate) scale symmetry associated with the conformal fixed point, based on the conformal gauge dynamics of ladder Schwinger-Dyson (SD) equation with non-running coupling. We study the techni-dilaton as a flavor-singlet bound state of techni-fermions by including the techni-gluon condensate (tGC) effect into the previous (bottom-up) holographic approach to the SWC-TC, a deformation of the holographic QCD with $\gamma_m \simeq 0$ by large anomalous dimension $\gamma_m \simeq 1$. With including a bulk scalar field corresponding to the gluon condensate, we first improve the Operator Product Expansion of the current correlators so as to reproduce gluonic $1/Q^4$ term both in QCD and SWC-TC. We find in QCD about $10\%$ (negative) contribution of gluon condensate to the $\rho$ meson mass. We also calculate the oblique electroweak $S$-parameter in the presence of the effect of the tGC and find that for the fixed value of $S$ the tGC effects dramatically reduce the flavor-singlet scalar (techni-dilaton) mass $M_{\rm TD}$ (in the unit of $F_\pi$), while the vector and axial-vector masses $M_\rho$ and $M_{a_1}$ are rather insensitive to the tGC, where $F_\pi$ is the decay constant of the techni-pion. If we use the range of values of tGC implied by the ladder SD analysis of the non-perturbative scale anomaly in the large $N_f$ QCD near the conformal window, the phenomenological constraint $S \simeq 0.1$ predicts the techni-dilaton mass $M_{\rm TD} \sim 600$ GeV which is within reach of LHC discovery.Comment: 28 pages, 11 eps files, typos corrected, references added, Fig.1 corrected, some discussions added, to be published in PR

High Temperature Ferromagnetism in GaAs-based Heterostructures with Mn Delta Doping

We show that suitably-designed magnetic semiconductor heterostructures consisting of Mn delta-doped GaAs and p-type AlGaAs layers, in which the locally high concentration of magnetic moments of Mn atoms are controllably overlapped with the 2-dimensional hole gas wavefunction, realized remarkably high ferromagnetic transition temperatures (TC). Significant reduction of compensative Mn interstitials by varying the growth sequence of the structures followed by low temperature annealing led to high TC up to 250 K. The heterostructure with high TC exhibited peculiar anomalous Hall effect behavior, whose sign depends on temperature.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae induces COX-2 and PGE2 expression in lung epithelial cells via activation of p38 MAPK and NF-kappa B

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nontypeable <it>Haemophilus influenzae </it>(NTHi) is an important respiratory pathogen implicated as an infectious trigger in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but its molecular interaction with human lung epithelial cells remains unclear. Herein, we tested that the hypothesis that NTHi induces the expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) via activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B in pulmonary alveolar epithelial cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Human alveolar epithelial A549 cells were infected with different concentrations of NTHi. The phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was detected by Western blot analysis, the DNA binding activity of NF-kappa B was assessed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), and the expressions of COX-1 and 2 mRNA and PGE2 protein were measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. The roles of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4, well known NTHi recognizing receptor in lung epithelial cell and gram-negative bacteria receptor, respectively, on the NTHi-induced COX-2 expression were investigated in the HEK293 cells overexpressing TLR2 and TLR4 <it>in vitro </it>and in the mouse model of NTHi-induced pneumonia by using TLR2 and TLR4 knock-out mice <it>in vivo</it>. In addition, the role of p38 MAPK and NF-kappa B on the NTHi-induced COX-2 and PGE2 expression was investigated by using their specific chemical inhibitors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>NTHi induced COX-2 mRNA expression in a dose-dependent manner, but not COX-1 mRNA expression in A549 cells. The enhanced expression of PGE2 by NTHi infection was significantly decreased by pre-treatment of COX-2 specific inhibitor, but not by COX-1 inhibitor. NTHi induced COX-2 expression was mediated by TLR2 in the epithelial cell <it>in vitro </it>and in the lungs of mice <it>in vivo</it>. NTHi induced phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and up-regulated DNA binding activity of NF-kappa B. Moreover, the expressions of COX-2 and PGE2 were significantly inhibited by specific inhibitors of p38 MAPK and NF-kappa B. However, NTHi-induced DNA binding activity of NF-kappa B was not affected by the inhibition of p38 MAPK.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>NTHi induces COX-2 and PGE2 expression in a p38 MAPK and NF-kappa B-dependent manner through TLR2 in lung epithelial cells <it>in vitro </it>and lung tissues <it>in vivo</it>. The full understanding of the role of endogenous anti-inflammatory PGE2 and its regulation will bring new insight to the resolution of inflammation in pulmonary bacterial infections.</p

Collagenous Fibroma (Desmoplastic Fibroblastoma) of the Neck Presenting with Neurological Symptoms

Collagenous fibromas are rare fibrous soft tissue tumours that usually arise in subcutaneous tissue or skeletal muscle at a variety of anatomical sites. These lesions commonly present as painless, slow-growing mobile masses. We describe a unique case of a 41-year-old woman presenting with a posterior neck swelling and longstanding history of severe ongoing pain in the right scapular region, shoulder and neck, weakness of the palmar grip and limited right lateral neck flexion and rotation. A history of trauma to the right neck in adolescence was noted. Histological analysis revealed a paucicellular lesion with spindle and stellate-shaped fibroblasts involving the cervical nerve roots, typical of collagenous fibroma. In a literature search on Medline and Pubmed, we found no reported cases of collagenous fibromas presenting with neurological symptoms. This report highlights the potential of these lesions to present with neurological symptoms due to infiltration of surrounding tissues, and that preceding trauma may contribute to the aetiology

Natural evolution of desmoplastic fibroblastoma on magnetic resonance imaging: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Desmoplastic fibroblastoma (collagenous fibroma) is a recently described tumor thought to arise predominantly from subcutaneous tissue or skeletal muscle. The natural evolution of this tumor on magnetic resonance imaging has never been described, to the best of our knowledge. We herein report a case of desmoplastic fibroblastoma arising in the thigh and show the longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging findings.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 60-year-old Japanese man presented with swelling of the medial side of his right thigh, and he complained of nighttime pain and slight tenderness. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a 4 × 4 cm mass in the right thigh. Open biopsy was performed. The mass was diagnosed histologically as a benign fibrous tumor, and we maintained follow-up without surgical therapy. After one year, magnetic resonance imaging showed an increase in tumor size to 4 × 5 cm, but the histologic findings were the same as those obtained one year earlier. Resection was performed with narrow surgical margins. Pathologic diagnosis was desmoplastic fibroblastoma. Two years after surgery, the patient is free from pain and shows no signs or symptoms of recurrence.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The natural evolution of desmoplastic fibroblastoma is characterized by no changes in patterns on magnetic resonance imaging despite increasing size. This finding is clinically helpful for distinguishing desmoplastic fibroblastoma with increasing pain from the desmoid tumor.</p

Expression of Toll-like receptor 2 is up-regulated in monocytes from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by pulmonary and systemic inflammation which flare-up during episodes of acute exacerbation (AECOPD). Given the role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in the induction of inflammatory responses we investigated the involvement of TLRs in COPD pathogenesis. METHODS: The expression of TLR-2, TLR-4 and CD14 in monocytes was analyzed by flow cytometry. To study the functional responses of these receptors, monocytes were stimulated with peptidoglycan or lipopolysaccharide and the amounts of TNFα and IL-6 secreted were determined by ELISA. RESULTS: We found that the expression of TLR-2 was up-regulated in peripheral blood monocytes from COPD patients, either clinically stable or during AECOPD, as compared to never smokers or smokers with normal lung function. Upon stimulation with TLR-2 ligand monocytes from COPD patients secreted increased amounts of cytokines than similarly stimulated monocytes from never smokers and smokers. In contrast, the expressions of TLR-4 and CD14 were not significantly different between groups, and the response to lipopolysaccharide (a TLR-4 ligand) stimulation was not significantly different either. At discharge from hospital TLR-2 expression was down-regulated in peripheral blood monocytes from AECOPD patients. This could be due to the treatment with systemic steroids because, in vitro, steroids down-regulated TLR-2 expression in a dose-dependent manner. Finally, we demonstrated that IL-6, whose plasma levels are elevated in patients, up-regulated in vitro TLR-2 expression in monocytes from never smokers. CONCLUSION: Our results reveal abnormalities in TLRs expression in COPD patients and highlight its potential relationship with systemic inflammation in these patients